From Crawlspaces to Classrooms: How Justin Berger Revolutionized Home Inspection

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it.

0:36Hey there, welcome to this episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Bill Gilliland, your host. I am the principal at Action Coach Business Growth Partners and one of the founders of the Asheville Business Summit. And I am super pumped today to have Justin Berger from the Home Inspection Collective with me. So, Justin, tell us a little bit about you and what the heck the Home Inspection Collective is. yeah thanks bill i'm yeah looking forward to having a conversation with you um and all the listeners that are out there um yeah home inspection collective i get asked that all the time like why did you go with the collective what what is that and and it actually my business model changed when i first started the business to what it has evolved to today um originally i just wanted to be a scheduling company.

1:29So I just wanted to have a handful of home inspectors out there that I trusted that I could send work to or leads to. And yeah, I found out quite quickly that that business model wasn't going to work because it was hard to really protect any IP that we had and also to keep other inspectors from poaching the realtors that we've been working with that send us leads. And so we changed the model and said, you know what, let's build out a team, not necessarily a team at Home Inspection Collective, but a team of subcontractors that we use on a regular basis to help us, our agents, and our clients with home inspections.

2:13And so that is Home Inspection Collective. And we've been servicing Asheville since 2017. while Asheville and the surrounding areas since 2017. Yeah. So when you say that you have a team of subcontractors, tell us more about that model. Yeah. So in-house, we have two full-time inspectors. So we have Sean and Kayshon. But the subcontractor side of that is professionals that were not licensed to do any type of formal inspections. And so most of our clients ask us to do what's called a termite inspection or a pest inspection with our general home inspection. And so we have colleagues that are subcontractors to us.

3:03And one of those would be Jake with Recon Pest. And so we've teamed up with him since 2017 to do specific inspections, again, that we're not qualified or licensed to do. um and then other subcontractors that we use is emma she is our chimney sweep and as you can imagine her schedule is filling up quickly this time of year because everyone wants to get their wood stove or fireplace um cleaned and ready and ready to go for this upcoming season um and so yeah we've been offering chimney sweeps and inspections now for about six months and we're and again as a subcontractor she's a subcontractor on paper but she's obviously one of our team members, even though she's compensated a little bit differently than our home inspectors.

3:50And then other subcontractors that we use is septic. So we have companies that we subcontract out to do septic and well inspections. And I think that's it for, yeah, that's it for subcontractors. Yeah. So basically, if you want to get anything inspected around your house, pretty much you're a source for that. Yeah. No, that's great. I understand. I understand the model now. So let's jump to the business. So you started with one model. You kind of, I wouldn't say completely changed. It seems like you just morphed it a little bit to meet what the market would differently. But if you had to start from square one, what would you do differently?

4:40man that is that's a great question someone asked me that the other day and you know out of uh you know i've reflected on a little bit and and my answer kind of changed a little bit because i don't know i don't know that i would change anything um i have a i don't have a lot of quotes but i have one in particular that i like and it's uh you know what got you here won't get you there. And so my journey in, in entrepreneurship or being a business owner has been just one wall after another, one ceiling after another. And, and so would I change anything? You know, probably not because every, every obstacle that I had to, that I was up against, I had to find a solution for it.

5:26And so that was, that was my answer when I was asked that before, but my answer has now changed to where, you know, one of the biggest challenges that I've had to face and that I will continue to face is just self-awareness. My, you know, this idea that I was the best home inspector in Asheville, you know, I came to this realization that, no, I'm not the best home inspector in Asheville. And then it's like, okay, so what do we do about that? If you're not the best, how do you get the best or how do you find the best? And so then I just said, okay, we have to build out a team. Let's find someone that's better than me at doing home inspections.

6:10And so that kind of changed how we looked at our business personally and professionally is that self-awareness to where, you know, I am constantly trying to determine what my strengths are and what my weaknesses are. And if I had to go back and start over, I would identify what I'm really good at and what I'm terrible at. And then I would find those people and surround myself with those individuals that excel at some of those things that I'm not. Like I will never be a bookkeeper. I don't have the bandwidth to sit behind a computer and look at numbers every single day or doing my taxes or doing marketing or whatever that it is.

6:53And so I certainly had this mind shift It's changed of like, okay, stop trying to take on all of these things that I shouldn't be doing because I'm not good at it and I don't want to learn it. And let's find someone that's better at it and let's get them on board with us to help us with the path of the business that we want to run and operate. And so self-awareness, that is my answer. I love it. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, it's a little bit about, you know, I had a mentor one time said, you got to learn to commit ego side. You got to put your ego aside and get going on it. So it sounds like that was a good learning.

7:34What other learnings have you had as an employer?

7:43One of the struggles that we face in our industry, and this isn't specific to my business, is hiring. is finding, just in terms of like filling the role as a home inspector. That will continue to be our biggest hurdle and our biggest challenge. And it is because we're a licensed state. And so we have to meet some basic requirements that allow us to do a home inspection. And there's not a lot of people out there that know about our industry or that are excited about our industry or even know anything about how to get into becoming a home inspector. And so every time that we're looking to build our team, our internal team with home inspectors, we have Indeed ads that are out.

8:39Word of mouth, we're constantly reaching out to other agents or anyone else that knows of a home inspector that might be looking to join a team. Um, but our, our challenge is, is like when we have such a small pool of candidates, like I might go through one or two, three licensed individuals throughout the year, um, that want to join our team. And when I'm only interviewing one or two candidates, um, I'm hiring them because out of a specific need that we're busy and we need inspectors. And what I found is if you have one candidate, then you are going to hire that one person. That's not really set up for success.

9:20I need to have a pool of 10 candidates. Right. And then I need to find the best one out of the group and bring them and bring them on board to join to join our team. and and so it starts it's the problem is our industry because we are a licensed state there are several companies out there that offer pre-licensing certification so it's usually 120 hours of online training then you have to take 80 hours of field training which is not done here in ashville but the companies that offer that service they're selling other stuff so they have a hidden agenda, right? So it's not about getting someone licensed.

10:00They're trying to sell them their reporting software. They're trying to sell them their insurance. They're trying to, I mean, you'd name it, they're trying to pitch it. Like I get it, right? But one of the things that they tell these new individuals that are going through this process is this idea of being a business owner and all the benefits of it. And you can make a hundred thousand dollars a year, you know, after one or two years of being in the industry. And that's extremely misleading. And so when I have conversations with recently licensed individuals, that they have this idea that I'm going to be a business owner, I'm going to run my own business, and I'm going to make 100 grand a year, all I need is five inspections a week, right?

10:41And it's really, it's one thing to be licensed and know how to do a home inspection, but it's another thing just to get your phone to ring. And so our biggest challenge is having conversations, finding talent that are already licensed, and then having conversations with these newly licensed individuals like, hey, I understand that you might run a business, but let's talk about that a little bit because there's two paths in our industry. You're either a business owner or you work for another inspection company. And unfortunately, most of the new business owners that decide to go that path, start their own business, they're out of business within six months.

11:19And we lose track of them because they're no longer interested in our industry because now they're selling cars down the road or they're installing cabinets. And so they were promised this idea or they were promised this really cool gig and an awesome industry with X earning potential. And then they're out of business in a short time period. And so, so that, so which, so I'm challenged, I'm challenged with trying to identify people that are licensed or thinking about getting licensed and then just helping them through that process of, Hey, is this really something that you're interested in? Like, why do you want to be a business owner or why do you want to be a home inspector?

12:02And, and so now it's, now it's kind of changed to where, um, now I'm building a pipeline of non-licensed people. and now I'm having those conversations with them early and walking them through that process about being licensed, having a conversation with them about what's gonna be your marketing strategy if you're a business owner or do you like taking vacations and not having your phone ring? And so if I can help a potential team member decide what career path might be right for them, then at that point we say, okay, we're gonna keep you on our pipeline. We're gonna help you through the licensing process.

12:39And then at that point, then we can start bringing in some more qualified and already licensed individuals to join our team. But that is like a six month to a one year play. And so it's the long game just in terms of building out, building out our team with licensed people. But, but that is our biggest challenge is finding the right people to do the job. Yeah, no, I get it. I get it. But it seems like you have to play the long game with that because, I mean, the other option would be to every time somebody gets licensed and comes into the marketplace, you should talk to them like right away and say, hey, look, here's the deal.

13:26Here's, you know, this is the way it goes. I know, you know, you're likely to be successful. If you're successful, that's great. But if you get out there and it gets hard and you don't, you know, come see me. We can have a chat. We can make this work out for you. So it's an interesting one in that, yeah, and I worked with some locksmiths. It's the same deal. They've got very high licensing standards and a lot of – it's hard to be licensed because they have criminal background checks and all kind of stuff in that. So, yeah, I'm sure they have that here too. That's an interesting one. So what are some of the common misconceptions that you hear about running a business?

14:14About running a business? Yeah. I mean, you've probably heard it time and time again, but time freedom. That always seems to kind of pop up. Yeah, and it's hard work. It is extremely hard work. to run a business, especially a small business or a startup when you're wearing multiple hats. And so that's, yes, just kind of circle back that if anyone is interested in starting a business, I mean, I would start early in finding the right people to help you through that process. But, you know, we've built a business since 2017 that we're always on call. So my wife, Sonia, Um, she does all the admin stuff.

15:03So she answers phones, emails, sending out reports, all the scheduling. And that doesn't stop when we're on vacation. And so we made it, we made it a, or like after hours, like we have this, we have this internal saying in our business that we answer the call and, and we do. If someone calls us, like either my wife or I will sprint into the garage to get the main line before it rings three times, right? It's just kind of a fun thing that we do here. But I think that, yeah, time, freedom, and then just trying to separate yourself from a business that you're either passionate about or you have a lot of financial investment in.

15:48It's a challenge. It's a challenge just to kind of step back and take a break, which is needed and necessary. But it's certainly hard to do. So how do you balance the personal and the business lives?

16:07I don't know that we do.

16:12I mean, it's a little bit of a challenge, too, because, you know, my wife works for the business. And so, you know, when we're having conversations at dinner, our kids know like, hey, we have a rule. We don't talk about business. And, but yeah, it's, it certainly is a challenge that, you know, we, you know, my wife and I, we try to separate ourselves from the business how and when we can and not talk about it because there's always something to talk about. There's always something to do with the business. Yeah, you can talk about it 24-7 if you wanted. I mean, there's no, there's no, yeah, there's no, there's no question.

16:49That's why I ask it. It sounds like at least you got some boundaries around mealtime anyway. So we did. Yeah, that's that's that that's a good idea. So what do you attribute your growth to?

17:08I wish that I had an answer for that. But I don't know because we're not really tracking it. um and so you know it's it's been kind of an interesting roller coaster ride just in terms of business um specifically in in real estate because we all know it's pretty volatile it's you know it's really hot this year or we're going to see a down year and it's a roller coaster ride the highs and lows of it. And we have seen 20 % growth year after year. And so, you know, it's, so for us, like, I don't, I don't really focused on things that, that I can't control or my actions within my business. And so I saw something the other day that, you know, real estate sells is lowest point that it's been in however many years that it's been in.

18:00And it was a little confusing to me because we're up 20%. And so I don't, I don't, so all the outside noise is not really being reflected in our numbers. And so, um, and, and I'll be honest with you, we've never really had a marketing strategy. Um, and so most of our business is, is his word of mouth. And it's kind of an interesting business because we, now we have a marketing strategy, right? But we're marketing to someone who's not going to be our client. Yeah, 100%. We market to realtors who then refer us to their clients. And so, but our business has always been built off of word of mouth referrals from realtors.

18:49And that represented probably 90%, you know, 90 % of our business is from those referrals. And that to me is a little scary. I'd like to see it, you know, a little bit more of a 50-50 balance just in terms of realtor referrals than our direct-to-consumer clients. And so part of our marketing strategy now is essentially that. We do have a plan on social media just to build awareness and brand awareness to a potential buyer. We have a pay-per-click ad campaign on Google that is certainly bringing us in some good leads. But we're still probably operating at that, you know, maybe 80 to 90 percent of our business is built off of agent referrals.

19:38Yeah. I mean, that's historically the way it's worked. But, you know, I do think it's out there. There's opportunity for, you know, people to get their house inspected and see what the heck's wrong with it and fix it before they want to sell it. or maybe even if they don't want to sell it, they may just want to know what's wrong with it. So it's an issue thing. So what qualities do you look for in employees?

20:10I look for excellent communicators.

20:17i don't look for i mean what we do is you have to have a basic understanding about construction techniques and practices and all that um but so i don't look for anyone to join our team on the inspection side that has any type of construction experience and during our interview process, I actually tell them, if you tell me that you know how to wire an outlet, we're going to stop that conversation and we're going to talk about some things that are a little bit more important for us and how we as an employer can meet your needs and how you as an employee can meet our needs. It has to be a win-win for us both.

21:03Sean and Kayshon, our two inspectors, Both have a background in hospitality. And so that is way more important to me that you can actually have a conversation with clients and articulate some of the issues that we've had in a non-alarmist way on some of the conditions that we found in a home inspection to where they're not scared. And so my approach to and our approach to home inspections is more about just being educators. and as you can imagine, uh, home inspectors don't get invited to a lot of parties, um, because that's what we do. We walk into someone's home and then we can't turn it off.

21:46And we're like, Hey, like, you know, you have termites in your garage or, Hey, do you see that ceiling stain or whatever that it is? And so, uh, and so we try to separate ourselves from that and just be educators and not just home inspectors. And so, um, so I'm looking for the individuals that we're looking for are someone that has a really calm demeanor and again, and are just really, really, uh, they put a lot of emphasis on that communication and having, um, that human to human connection during the home inspection. Yeah. I like it.

22:31Yeah, mostly what we see, you know, in hiring people is the intangibles. It's not the skills. It's the, you know, can they talk to people? Can they get it? So, I mean, I think that's important. So, be epic or epic, you know, the epic and epic entrepreneurs is an acronym. So, I want to do a quick fire round here of a couple of words or sentences about each piece of the acronym. So just give me a couple of thoughts on the B stands for bring the energy.

23:07Bring the energy. All right. So ask me that again in how it relates to my business. And whatever your beliefs are around bringing energy to your – I mean, yeah, we're talking about business. But, yeah, I mean, what is – how does – give us a couple of thoughts about energy. yeah we uh bringing the energy for us is really that client experience and that starts when we get that first interaction whether it's an email whether it's a call um we're always the first to respond uh in group emails that come out and so uh yeah so it's like yeah bring the energy starts from that first interaction to the end that we're always looking for something positive to end any of our interactions with and so like a home inspection like we just told them that you know it's got termites it's got roofing leaks it's got all these things but we had that conversation with them on the deck enjoying the view that they're going to enjoy for the next however long they're going to be enjoying that.

24:20And so, uh, yeah, so bringing the energy is just being, uh, energetic and, and being excited for our clients. Like they're purchasing a home. This should be fun. It should be exciting. Right. Yep. Got it. So, um, the E is education and you've talked about that a little bit. So what are your thoughts around education? My thoughts are how do we get better. The more we know, the better equipped we are to help our clients. So that is the, so that's the education part, like in the field with our guys. But for me, I've kind of taken a different role in my business. I no longer do home inspections. And so I, you know, I use this analogy from crawl spaces to classrooms.

25:11And so now I teach. So I am certified by the state of North Carolina to teach continuing education classes for realtors. So for four hours, they get to hear me talk about septics and termites and issues that we find in home inspections. And so bring that education. It goes beyond our team. I want to empower agents to where they are better qualified when they show up on site on a listing appointment or showing appointment that they can show up to the table and being that reference for their clients. And so, yeah, it's, yeah, education is key. Yeah. And it makes our lives easier as home inspectors, right?

25:57Yeah. I mean, the whole idea of the acronym was like, all right, what does it, you know, what does it take to be successful? And so, you know, when I wrote a book, that's what I wrote about like, all right. So I had to, had to, had to spell something. So B Epic sounded pretty good. So the P stands for planning. I don't know very many successful people who don't do some sort of planning.

26:20Planning's, planning's hard, right? Yep. Um, that is, uh, yeah. And I'll be honest with you that that's, that's one gap in our business is, is the planning. Um, because there needs to be purpose behind it and you can't just set goals to set goals and i've realized that this year we set some pretty ambitious goals uh for 2025 and looking at our numbers you know halfway through after q2 it's like okay we're we're not we're not even going to come close to hitting these goals that we had and so so we adjusted so we adjusted some of our planning and how we were how we were going to tackle some of the problems that, or some of the goals that we were going to try to achieve, um, for this year.